According to Joe Stratton (1999) on his book Critical Thinking for college students, he stated “perception is the process of selection, organization, and interpretation of the sense-data into mental representation that can be use by the brain and the nerve system to provide content for thought” (p. 17).
We can understand Perception as the process by that we interpret and receive information coming from an environment or ourselves. This information is received through the five senses: Sight (eyes), hearing (ears), taste (tongue), touch (skin) and smell (nose). Sensory perception is not enough to identify the outside world. The intervention of other processes is also necessary. We can count few of these processes such as memory, attention, and imagination.
In other words, perception is how we understand and interpret the world. We perceive the world in certain ways depending on our beliefs is like a filter between the reality, the memories and experiences that we have stored in our subconscious mind. And our capacity of imagination is responsible for how we can perceive the reality and us. The perception varies from individual to individual; different people perceive different things in the same situation.
“This sensing-thinking connection is so closely interrelated that our thinking often begins in our senses, progresses through additional sensory input, and shapes itself to our sensing habits; conversely, thinking can shape the way we sense” (Goodpaster & Kirby, 1999, p.44).
There are some reasons that help us to believe in the accuracy of the sensory information. This means that we are aware, dependent of our mind and perceptually seem to us.
Here are